Law students shine at the School of Law’s annual Desmond Moot Court

The University at Buffalo School of Law held its annual Charles
S. Desmond Moot Court Competition on October 22, 2016. The team of
Gabrielle Walter ‘18 and Diane Elizabeth Orosz ‘18
edged the team of Ari Goldberg '17 and Jason Fleischer '17 to win
the final round, held before Hon. Eugene F. Pigott, Jr. ‘73,
Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals and Hon. Erin M.
Peradotto ‘84, Associate Justice of the New York State
Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Department.

At the awards banquet following the competition, Walter was
named best oralist while Fleischer and Goldberg won the award for
best brief. For the first time, a Professor
George Kannar Appellate Advocacy Award was presented to
Goldberg, whose combined scores on the brief and oral arguments
made him the best overall advocate at the Competition. The new
award is named for the long-time teacher of constitutional law and
former Director of Moot Courts, who is retiring at the end of the
current academic year, in recognition of his dedication to the
Buffalo Moot Court Board and appellate advocacy training at the
School of Law.

Organized by the School of Law's Buffalo Moot Court Board, the
Charles S. Desmond competition is one of the most popular courtroom
competitions the Law School offers. Ten teams comprised of two
advocates competed in this year’s competition.

Each team argued before a panel of volunteer judges on a
constitutional law issue. The judges came from all across Western
New York, and represented many alumni classes from the School of
Law. This year’s problem was a hypothetical U.S. Supreme
Court case involving two consolidated appeals from the Second
Circuit: Our Daily Bread, Inc. v. Melinda Patterson, et al.
The case presented two questions:

Whether the exclusion of religious organizations from a
subsidized program violates the Free Exercise clause of the United
States Constitution?

Whether the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service
properly denied tax-exempt status to a non-profit, as a religious
organization under the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. §
501(c)(3)?

After a number of hard-fought and closely decided rounds, only
two teams advanced to the Final Round and argued before the
distinguished University at Buffalo School of Law alumni bench.